Germany tops USMNT 2-1 in final World Cup warmup

Germany’s 2-1 win at Soldier Field was more than a late spring setback for the USMNT. It was a blunt test of where Mauricio Pochettino’s group stands less than a week before the World Cup opens in North America, and the answer from Chicago was mixed at best.

The match, billed as the Coca-Cola Send-Off Match, was the Americans’ final game before they head to Los Angeles for their opener against Paraguay on Friday, June 12. Germany entered as the 10th-ranked side in the world and a four-time World Cup champion, a level of opposition that made the result a useful measuring stick rather than a throwaway friendly.

The U.S. found one highlight through Antonee Robinson, who scored after a Germany clearance following a Christian Pulisic corner kick. It was the kind of sequence that showed the Americans can still create danger from set pieces, but it also underscored how much they had to rely on a single clean moment against an elite opponent. The final score, USA 1-2 Germany, left the U.S. with a winless final dress rehearsal and a reminder that sharp execution will matter from the first whistle of the tournament.

Personnel added to the concern. U.S. Soccer said Chris Richards was making progress but would not be ready for the Germany match, leaving Pochettino without one of his regular defensive options. Against a team of Germany’s pedigree, that absence mattered. It also hinted at the broader risk facing a host nation trying to build cohesion quickly: one missing starter can change the shape of the entire back line.

Germany treated the game as its own final international before the World Cup, with the tournament beginning June 11 and the team’s opening group including Ecuador, Côte d’Ivoire and Curaçao. In the buildup, Julian Nagelsmann stressed the need to focus on what Germany could control, and the approach fit the moment in Chicago, where the Germans looked like a side comfortable with the stakes and the calendar.

The U.S. now moves on to a group stage that begins against Paraguay in Los Angeles, continues against Australia on June 19 in Seattle, and ends against Turkey on June 25 back in Los Angeles. Chicago did not close the book on U.S. World Cup hopes, but it did strip away any illusion that momentum alone will carry this team into the tournament.